The Agony of Euthanasia Decisions

If you have owned more than one dog in your life, chances are that you have had to, as we euphemistically refer to it, "put your dog down", "put your dog to sleep", "let him go". Let us not mince words about this though, we are making a decision to end a life, very often a cherished life. This is not a decision, that once executed, we can process and undo. This is one of those life circumstances where there is no negotiation, no do overs. Done is done. A life will be over. This is a monumental responsibility and decision to make.

As many of my colleagues and clients know, I have been speaking for months about the climate of violence here in Arizona. I was shocked at the tenor of personal attacks against Gabby during the election, enormously proud of her tenacity, integrity and vision of our region and our country. I know no other representative who has the insight she has into the complexity of our border region, where violence has become a daily companion. That Gabrielle Giffords was targeted by an unstable madman after being persistently targeted by political fanatics comes as no surprise to anyone who has lived within this region for the last two years. That Gabrielle is one of the leading voices against the rise of violence across the border from the drug cartels only makes the incident more poignant. Gabrielle has long been a finger of reason in the dike of intolerance. I pray by the moment for her speedy and full recovery.

In my other professional life, I am an attorney and John Roll was the Federal Court Judge who presided over the Tucson 6 case for which I was the case coordinator for the defense from 1992 - 1994. Meticulously prepared always, professionally courteous, he suffered fools poorly, and expected the very best of the lawyers who appeared in front of him. Like all of us, he had his own personal political views, but professionally, I found him to be an extraordinarily hardworking, uncompromisingly fair and dedicated jurist. His loss is an absurd and horrific waste of a regional and national resource.

As to the other victims and most particularly the child, Christina Green, my soul cannot yet even encompass these losses. I have known great loss, and my heart breaks for these families.

Death is a strange creature which comes in many flavors. There are those deaths that attack without warning, smashing one's world apart with the crash of cymbals and the ripping and rending of earth. There are those deaths that linger, oftentimes leaching a dull poisen of despair, drop by drop into the soul. And then, every now and then, if one is very lucky, and leaves one's heart open to the possibility of risk, to the possibility that where there is sorrow and grief, there can also be compassion and kindness, there is a death whose elegance, and sweetness is so fine, that to participate in such a crossing is to have an ephemeral fleeting moment of knowing divine grace. My opportunity came in the crossing of a small, four-footed friend, a non-descript golden Mexican mutt by the name of Aleuchi.

For many years, after first spotting the picture of the monks on the cover of How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend, I was fascinated with the whimsical notion of dogs in church, accompanied by their monastic handlers. This, to me, had all the beloved idiosyncracy of a British murder mystery set in a quaint but eccentric small town. My idea of wonderful. That the monks in question seemed to know dogs, really know dogs was intriguing to me. That they apparantly walked their walk, all day long, incorporating their dogs into all aspects of a community, in this case, a religious community, was even more intriguing. That the dogs in question were German Shepherds was, for me, the icing on the cake. I had always loved them even though it would not be until many years later that I would first own one. I wonder, in retrospect, how much those subliminal impressions influenced and informed my later decisions.

It was a glorious summer morning, after a hot, wretched night bunked on a filthy bed, in a fetid line cabin high in the Sierra Azul. Thankfully our setting in the the mountains of Sonora, Mexico was magnificent, and the discovery of water in a series of rock slides had made the days’ journey and herbing expedition well worth it, despite having been cut off from a traditional mountain route by yet another government guarded marijuana plantation with massive chain link fence topped with razor wire, and soldiers with machine guns.

Maryna has an amazing touch with both dogs and people. Rarely does one dog trainer ever permit another to work with his dogs. Dog trainers are very particular about how their pets are handled. Maryna has worked with my own dogs at my request.

Even though I have been training dogs for over 30 years, in just a few moments, Maryna taught my pets a few new tricks, calming them significantly and quickly. What pleased me most was how gentle and loving Maryna treats dogs. They respond to her very quickly with trust and love.

I am sharing something with you that you may or may not be interested in, but I was so impressed yesterday at what I observed that I just couldn't sit on it.

My friend Maryna, who has been keeping my neck and back healthy for years, has a home full of her own very well-behaved dogs. I was always impressed that they never tried to jump on me and always responded so well when given commands. Mostly, if they were in the house they just looked up from their appointed resting places, and then ignored me.